As is generally well known, each railcar has a handbrake which utilizes a force-producing chain being manually taken-up or let-up for setting and releasing brakes of the railcar. One of the disadvantages of using handbrakes with which the instant invention is concerned is that some handbrakes within a train consist are not being released prior to train consist movement resulting in wheel lock-ups and further resulting in wheel flats that require repair or even replacement of the entire wheel.
Thus, there is a need for a device and method that can be used for determining when the tension is present in force-producing chain and, more particularly, when the force-producing chain has been at least partially set or remains at least partially set.